Opinion

It All Starts At Home

By SCOTT T. HARDS

The horrifying murder of 11-year-old Jun Hase, and the arrest and confession of a 15-year-old in the case has understandably kept all of Japan talking for the last several weeks. Tabloid-style television "wide" shows and sports newspapers in particular have been very busy, but even the mainstream mass media have spent considerable time reporting on the topic.

Since the arrest, the main focus seems to have been: How could our society have created such a monster? Weekend TV debate shows have brought out endless numbers of criminal psychologists who tell us that the boy who killed Jun was "lonely" or "looking for attention" or that he had "given up on school." In particular, the principal of the junior high school the suspect attended has been a target. In one scene I saw, reporters angrily shouted questions at him, one asking, "Isn't the school responsible for this?"

What disturbs me about all of this is the fact that none of these experts or reporters seems to have the courage to address the most obvious cause of the crime: a poor upbringing. If you really want to know how it was possible for such a young person to be responsible for something so terrible, you need look no further than his home. It is this boy's parents, not his school, who really need to do some serious soul-searching.

After all, though a bad atmosphere at his school may certainly have contributed to making him what he is today, the few dozen hours that his junior high school teachers have spent with him pale next to the thousands and thousands of hours that he must have spent at home with his parents.

Or has he? In many Japanese homes, the father is barely a presence to be felt at all, working long hours and coming home late to children who are already asleep. Meanwhile, mom is barely interested in her son as long as he doesn't disturb her, content if he is in his bedroom, apparently studying.

Of course, I don't know for sure that this boy's home is like this, but the chances are good. After all, he was able to own and watch dozens of grisly horror videos in his room and even able to bring part of Jun's body into his home without his mother and father knowing it ― not signs of particularly watchful parents.

Perhaps the Japanese media don't talk about his family and parents because they believe those people are also somehow victims of this terrible tragedy. They may very well be, but if we're ever to understand and thus help prevent a repeat of this horror, they deserve our scrutiny as painful as it may be.

Shukan ST: Aug. 1, 1997

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